Imagine an all-star team of athletes in your favorite sport. The best of the best. The superstars. The naturally talented. The ones that hone their skills constantly and then shine when given the opportunity. They are all captains on their own teams. Leaders across the board.
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Now, imagine you are given responsibility for that group; to mold them into a team and lead them forward. What will you do first? How will you get this group of leaders to become a team and work together in support of the goals you give them? How will they view you; lacking athletic skills, perhaps not as experienced, coming along and trying to get them to play better together, not as a team of superstars but as a superstar team?
What would you do first?
Leaders can exist throughout any organization. We know that leadership is not earned by one’s title, but rather, by one’s actions and influence. If we are fortunate enough to be leading other leaders, there are specific challenges and opportunities to keep in mind.
In his book, Leading Leaders (2006, Amacom), Jeswald Salacuse starts out by discussing leaders as followers. He provides five lessons that are key and then builds upon these concepts throughout the book:
1. Your ability to lead other leaders arises not just from your position, resources, or charisma, but from your will and skill. If you want to lead other persons, especially leaders, you have to work at the job.
2. The basis of leadership, particularly with other leaders, is your relationship with the persons you lead. Trust in the leader is a necessary element of leadership.
3. Communication is your fundamental tool in building those relationships.
4. The key process of leading leaders is communication through one-on-one interactions with the person you would lead. If you lead other leaders, you have to engage them personally and connect with them.
5. In developing your leadership strategies and tactics, you need to take account of the interests of the persons you would lead. Leading leaders is above all interest-based leadership. Leaders will not follow you because of your position or charisma but because they consider it in their interest. Your job as a leader is to convince them that their interests lie with you.
The last three, especially, share the common thread of communication skills. When leading other leaders, we must be able to share a vision and inspire action by the others. When writing about how Apple’s Steve Jobs, Southwest Airline’s Herb Kelleher and Federal Express’ Fred Smith motivated their leadership teams, Suzanne Bates of the Northeast HR Association noted:
The common denominator across each of these extraordinary leaders is that they had a powerful vision that set their companies on a sure path to success.
Communication, vision, motivation, inspiration. All keys to leading other leaders.
Now, it’s your turn. If you are a leader of leaders, what would you add to the list?
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